D.C. vendor sentenced to 18 years for beating man to death with barbell

A D.C. street vendor was sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating a man to death with a barbell on a sidewalk in Columbia Heights.

Jeffrey Mills, 51, was found guilty by a D.C. jury in November of voluntary manslaughter while armed and carrying a dangerous weapon.

According to prosecutors, on Jan. 14, 2012, Mills parked his van on the Park Road sidewalk near the intersection of 14th Street NW. Mills would often park his van there and sell wares from a table he set up on the sidewalk.

A group of friends were gathered nearby.

For no discernible reason, prosecutors said, at about 2 p.m., Mills grabbed a long, 15-pound barbell that he used to lift weights during the day. He then rushed at one of the gathering of people and swung the barbell like a baseball bat in the the back and head of 45-year-old Juan Antonio Paredes, according to the government’s evidence.

Paredes, who was talking with friends and did not see the attack coming, crumpled to the ground, prosecutors said. As he lay defenseless on the ground, Mills repeatedly struck and kicked up to 10 times.